US President Barack Obama has ripped into Mitt Romney's economic plan, saying his likely Republican opponent's ideas are identical to those of George W Bush.
Speaking at the opposite end of the battleground state of Ohio shortly before Obama on Thursday, Romney said the president would be giving a fine speech but "talk is cheap".
Obama was at a community college in the industrial city of Cleveland. Romney was in Cincinnati in the south.
Densely populated Ohio does not predictably vote Republican or Democratic in presidential elections and will be key to the outcome of the November vote.
After detailing what Obama said were the economic policy failures of his predecessor, Obama told his cheering audience: "If you want to give the policies of the last decade another try, then you should vote for Mr Romney."
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Romney said: "If you want to see the results of his economic policy, look around Ohio, look around the country.
"What he says and what he does are not always the exact same thing," the former Massachusetts governor said.
Romney addressed a crowd of about 100 from a manufacturing plant of Selikop Industries, the type of small-business facility that's become a standard venue for the Republican's campaign stops. Cincinnati is a Republican stronghold near the Kentucky border.
Romney's campaign had billed the appearance as a duelling event to the president's major economic speech, but he delivered his standard, 20-minute campaign speech.
The appearances mark the first time Obama and Romney have taken their message to the same state on the same day.
Ohio is key to the election hopes of both candidates who, with less than five months remaining until the November 6 election, are virtually tied in the polls.
